1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for easing child birth and, more particularly, to a device for practicing the method for easing child birth and, most particularly, to a device for easing child birth, which is controlled by the individual giving birth to the child.
2. Background Information
Child birth is often a traumatic physical and emotional process that involves passage of the child through the birth canal of the mother. The process is nearly always painful and can put the well being of both the mother and child in jeopardy. Various medications can be used to ease the pain of the mother during the process, but such medications are not without risk to both the mother and child. Various mechanical devices have been developed to assist the child birth process. Several inventions concerned with devices that are applied to the exterior of the mother to assist in child birth have been granted patents.
Heidenwolf, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,597,637, describes an obstetrical apparatus that includes a belt with an inflatable bladder that is secured around the abdomen of a parturient woman. The belt is positioned such that inflation of the bladder applies pressure toward the belly between the hips and bottom of the uterus of the woman. The belt is held in place by a strap that is secured to the upper thigh of the woman.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,576,154, Hyman et al. disclose an orthopedic belt that eases sacroiliac joint pain by compressing soft pelvic tissue against the sacrum and ilium, to support and immobilize the sacroiliac joints. The belt consists solely of flat, woven webbing forming a band about four to six inches wide, and a fastening device at the front. The belt encircles the patient at the level between the anterior superior iliac spines and the greater trochanters of the femurs. It is fastened with enough tension to compress the soft tissue, as desired. Ends of the band forming the belt are fastened together at an angle, which is selected to pass the belt horizontally across the back and to accommodate the shape of the patient's hips. The ends of the band are cut off in a taper so that no square corners are exposed. Various fastening means to place and maintain tension on the band may be used, including flexible straps extending from one end of the band through loops on the other and back to the first end, where they are connected together with cooperating press-holding pads such as Velcro™ hook and eye material.
Sebastian et al., in U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,194, describe a therapeutic appliance for application to the lumbar spine. The appliance follows the contours of the iliac crests and overlies the sacrum and sacroiliac joints, as well as anchors below the posterior superior iliac spines of the human body. The appliance includes an external shell having a length sufficient to extend around the abdominal region of the body with fasteners at opposite ends of the shell and an air bladder disposed on the shell. The air bladder has a plurality of air chambers, including elongated air chambers which extend transversely to the longitudinal direction of the shell with lower ends thereof shaped to lie above the iliac crests. The device includes a lower longitudinally extending air chamber and an anchoring air chamber between the longitudinally extending air chamber and the outer edge of the bladder. The anchoring air chamber extends arcuately from a central portion of the air bladder toward the opposite ends of the shell and is positioned to lie below the posterior superior iliac spines to prevent upward riding of the therapeutic appliance when in place on the human body and to provide support for the sacroiliac joints. The appliance may also include belts on the outside thereof for tightening the air chambers against the wearer's lumbar spine and sacroiliac joints. Pockets can be provided on the inside of the appliance for applying hot or cold packs to the back muscles of the wearer of the appliance.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,281 by Lee discloses a pneumatic cuff assembly fitting over and around the entire maternal abdomen. The cuff is intermittently inflated to a low and safe pressure in synchrony with the mother's voluntary straining efforts in order to augment the intra-abdominal pressure to assist the delivery of the fetus at the final stage of child birth. Near the end of obstetric labor, the cuff is applied on the abdomen, parts are connected, and the reservoir tank pressurized to a recommended pressure of twenty pounds per square inch. At the final stage of delivery and synchronous with the mother's voluntary straining, the cuff is inflated. When the voluntary straining stops, the cuff is manually deflated quickly. The setting of the pressure reducer/regulator is to be determined by the physician or midwife. Two to four pounds per square inch seems appropriate. The amount of additional expelling force can be roughly estimated at two pounds per square inch of cuff pressure, which is considered low and safe, and at ten square inches of cross-sectional area of a fetal head, the force is twenty pounds, which is more than is safely applied with a pair of outlet forceps. Generally speaking, a pushing force is safer on the mother and the child then a pulling force.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,405,356, Hahn et al. describe a childbirth-assisting device that uses an automatically synchronized, expandable pneumatic girdle to externally augment the secondary force of labor. The pneumatic girdle is fitted around the abdomen of the woman and the girdle is inflated to create a downward pressure on the abdomen when a contraction occurs. The synchronization of the girdle's inflation and the contractions is provided by an electronic controller, which receives a signal from an intra-uterine monitor indicating a contraction and causes the girdle to inflate at a certain rate until a preset intra-uterine pressure is attained. Once the intra-uterine pressure reaches the preset pressure, the girdle pressure is maintained until the offset of the contraction is detected, at which time the girdle is deflated.
Hahn et al., in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,645,563 and 5,871,499, disclose a childbirth-assisting device that uses an automatically synchronized, expandable pneumatic girdle to externally augment the secondary force of labor. The girdle, through which the pressure is applied, is fitted around the abdomen of the woman. An inflatable bladder within the girdle is inflated to create a downward pressure on the abdomen upon detection of a contraction. External pressure monitors which detect contractions may be attached directly to the girdle, and the girdle is configured to assure that the bladder is correctly positioned at all times. The external pressure monitors include a solid state force sensor, embedded within a pliable housing, which is conformable to the patient's abdomen to improve accuracy. A member may be provided to prevent multiple uses of a girdle to assure the integrity of the girdle during use.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,175 by Tanaka discloses a medical corset that includes a hip band portion composed of an elastic material for covering both the sacroiliac region and the hip joint region and a pair of femoral region holding portions, coupled below the buttock portion of this hip band portion to be fixed on the thighs. When this corset is put on a body, the sacroiliac region and the hip joint region are compressed and protected by the hip band portion and, thus, a lame hip due to a trouble of these joints is lightened. When putting the medical corset on the body, the hip band portion is first wound around the hip region. The hip band portion, which is capable of entirely covering both the sacroiliac region and the hip joint region and is composed of an elastic material, keeps the hip region in a somewhat compressed condition. When the pair of femoral region holding means, coupled to the hip band portion, is fixed on the right and left thighs, the attachment of the medical corset is completed. In this condition, in which the femoral region holding means are fixed on the thighs and are coupled on the buttock side, the entire corset is prevented from shifting upward even if bending and stretching are repeated, for example. The buttock side is the region extending from the buttocks to the back.
Ha, in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0242639, describes a pelvis remedial seat device and a control method thereof for remedying into its original place a woman's widened pelvis after child birth. The pelvis remedial seat device comprises a seat (10), a seat cushion (11) on which an occupant is seated and left/right seat sides (12a, 12b), provided uprightly at each side end of the seat cushion (11). A pair of air bags (20a, 20b) nested on an inner side of each side are expanded or contracted by air supplied into or discharged from the inside of the air bag. An air injection means for providing air pressure to the air bags (20a, 20b) is also present. The expanding air pressure in the air bags presses the pelvis portion of an occupant. Accordingly, the air pressure can artificially press the pelvis portion of the woman, when seated or lying down, without constraining the human body so that rapid recovery of the pelvis can be attained.
Applicants have devised a method for easing child birth and, more particularly, to a device for practicing the method for easing child birth and, most particularly, to a device for easing child birth, which is controlled by the individual giving birth to the child.